We usually associate the Academy Awards with designer couture than sensibly priced casualwear, but national retailer JCPenney is rolling out its new ads starring Ellen DeGeneres during Sunday’s Oscars telecast. (Check out some outtakes above.)
It’s been a win-win situation ever since the right-wing group One Million Moms pushed for a boycott of the store for hiring “an open homosexual spokesperson.” As the victim of bullies, Ellen became even more beloved by the American public and Penny was able to connect with a demographic that probably hasn’t shopped there since they were kids.
JCPenney will unveil five commercials in total during the Oscars broadcast. We kinda wish Ellen had managed to snag hosting duties on Sunday too—we’re not particularly psyched for four hours of Billy Crystal mugging at the camera and giving shout outs to Jack Nicholson.
christopher di spirito
She looks so much older since becoming a vegan.
dvlaries
I still remember and love her line at the long-postponed (following 9/11) Emmy awards, about her appropriateness as host: “What could bug the Taliban more than a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?”
LandStander
@christopher di spirito: Celebrities, much like you and I, age with the passing of time. That said, I think she looks radiant and healthy, and seems to me to be aging very gracefully 🙂
DenverBarbie
@christopher di spirito: Ellen went vegan four years ago at the age of 50, and I cannot honestly say that I see much of a difference. She looks great at 54- women in their 30s and 40s could only wish to look like that.
Also, as half of Hollywood is vegetarian or vegan, it’s worth arguing that vegetarians age much, much better. Though not a Hollywood star, my god- look at Mimi Kirk!
Some Random Guy
I realize your spellcheck could never have got it, but it’s JC Penney, not Penny.
@christopher di spirito: A Vegan is a resident of the solar system of Vega (Alpha Lyrae), the second-brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, in the constellation Lyra, about 25 light-years away. Or, someone who still drives a 1970s Chevy Vega!
axon
What’s with the age obsession?
I’m going to parachute into Hollywood in my sixties, wrinkles galore and SEVERAL POUNDS overweight (gasp!), and sweep the country off its feet! 😉
christopher di spirito
@LandStander: Radiant? Can’t see it. Ellen looks more and more like a concentration camp victim. I want shout at her: “Go eat a hamburger and fries.”
DenverBarbie
@christopher di spirito: I think your vision might be a little skewed by society’s delusions of what the vegan lifestyle is. Ellen isn’t looking too skinny at all! I bet she’s dining well (and expensively!).
divkid
@DenverBarbie:
thanks for introducing that mimi woman into my life (has she really not had any cosmetic jiggery-pokery, cuz, just wow!); i’m now seriously considering doing the raw food thing — lord knows i can’t get enough fad into *my* life.
i’ve been vegan this past 15yrs, and i’ve even been fat (gay fat), and at times a bit underweight, but mostly healthy-looking gym-type body.
unfortunately, i didn’t overly like vegetables to begin with — so i’ve spent a fortune on vitamins and stuff; otherwise i’ve mainly eaten gravel and toe nail clippings… but i do look effin great on it … and way younger than my age — which is so young anyway as to render that last statement virtually meaningless. cough.
and ellen looks just fine too; and young — for an uncosmetically-altered fifty-something.
jonbleezy
Aren’t JCPenney’s usually notorious gay cruising spots?